Wood Carving Tools & Techniques for Beginners

Beginners Guide to Wood Carving Tools and Wood Carving Techniques with Bill Anderson

In the above video Bill Anderson introduces beginners to the ideal tools and techniques for getting started in carving wood on your traditional wooden furniture.

Bill starts off introducing the ideal mallet for wood carving. Here is the link to the mallet that Bill used in this video, along with some highly rated, yet more affordable options:

• “Blue Spruce” 16 oz. Carver’s Mallet: around $80 (click here)
• “Wood Is Good” urethane Carver’s Mallet: around $29 (click here)
• “Shop Fox” Brass Carver’s Mallet: around $25 (click here)
• New & used carving mallets on eBay (click here)
• Other good mallets at Highland Woodworking (click here)

In the video Bill also discusses the different sizing for wood carving gouges (both British and European). He simplifies “out-canel” wood carving gouges vs. “in-canel” wood carving gouges and  demystifies the little numbers on the gouge handles, including gouge “sweep” and gouge width:

Here are the gouges that Bill used in this video:

• New PFEIL “Swiss Made” carving gouges (click here)
• Used PFEIL “Swiss Made” carving gouges on eBay (click here)
• Other used carving gouges on eBay (click here)
• New PFEIL “Swiss Made” Intermediate Size Carving Tools Set of 6 (click here)
• New PFEIL “Swiss Made” Intermediate Set of 7 Tools (click here)
• New PFEIL “Swiss Made” Intermediate Carving Set, 12 piece (click here)
• Other new quality gouges on Highland Woodworking (click here)

Finally Bill shows the proper techniques for holding and using carving gouges & mallets. Visit our full wood carving tool buyer’s guide here.

I hope you enjoyed the video!